NEGATIVE INSIGHT

Negative Insight is a hardcore punk zine based in Massachusetts, USA. This site will feature articles, interviews, and other pieces relevant to what the magazine covers in between publishing new issues.

Friday, June 19, 2015

Thanks to Guy of Blood Sucker Records for being kind enough to answer these questions. I think most fans of Japanese hardcore are familiar with Blood Sucker Records. Their releases by the likes of Nightmare, Bastard, Death Side, Disclose, and a host of others have kept the label at the forefront of the Japanese hardcore scene for many years. I think those reading will find the answers to be interesting as well as make them salivate at a couple of the replies. Thanks to Guy for his participation and kindness!!

Interview conducted in June of 2015 with some questions contributed by Tom of General Speech fanzine and Andrew Underwood of Maximum RockNRoll. Thanks to them for their help.

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Riot City Records existed from 1980-1984, releasing some of the best
bands and records of the UK82 era. Along with No Future Records, Riot
City dominated the independent charts and left a lasting mark on punk. The bulk of this interview was conducted in 2008 with all questions answered candidly by the most gracious Simon Edwards, who is truly an absolute pleasure. Huge thanks to Simon for partaking in this interview.Most photos come care of the Bristol Archives Records site. For additional photos of the Riot City Era and Bristol punk photos, please go to Simon Edwards photos, Manic Ears photos, and Bristol punk photos.

Simon Edwards hard at work

How and when did you get involved with working for record labels? Were you the owner of Heartbeat Records?

Yes
to the question, I was the owner of Heartbeat Records. Basically my
background was I used to play in bands. I then started managing bands
and just looking after them and recording them. And then when the
independent label thing started in 1976-77, I thought that I could do
that as well. So I started Heartbeat Records. I just basically asked a
lot of silly questions, "How'd you do this? How'd you do that?" And then
I did it, and it worked. And I just went on from there.

How did you first hook up with Vice Squad? I know they were first on the "Avon Calling" compilation on Heartbeat.That's
right. Well, when I was doing Heartbeat Records, Heartbeat Records was
essentially just for sort of local bands around the Bristol area. And
there were so many bands around at the time that I couldn't put out
enough records to satisfy the demand and all the stuff that was going
on. So I did "Avon Calling" because that was the obvious thing to do to
to try and get a lot of the bands on a record so they could get onto the
radio and get people to hear it. And Vice Squad were one of the bands
that gave me a demo tape. They were also playing around the area as
well, and I was quite impressed with them. So, yeah, they got a place on
the album.

"Avon Calling" compilation LP on Heartbeat Records (1979)

How did Riot City come to be formed, and why not just release the Vice Squad EP on Heartbeat Records?Because
Heartbeat was a label that was essentially for a broad spectrum of
music. If you've heard all the Heartbeat releases, a lot of them are
quite different than the others. There's some quite sort of folky
things, and there's some quite hard rocky things, and there's some punky
things. So it tended to sort of encompass a pretty broad spectrum of
music. But with the Vice Squad thing, after "Avon Calling" was released,
Vice Squad brought me a demo with four tracks that they wanted to put
on an EP. And at the time with Heartbeat Records, I had a label link
like a licensing deal with Cherry Red Records up in London and they did a
lot of my distribution. I used to take all the stuff up, and I used to
play demo tapes to the guy at Cherry Red, Iain McNay. Well, I took the
Vice Squad tape up there, and i said "Look, hey, we've got this new band
that's come along. They're on 'Avon Calling,' and now they've done
their own EP and it sounds great." You know, and I played it to him and
he said it was horrible. (Laughter) He didn't like it at all. And he
said "Well, I don't really want Cherry Red Records to be involved in
that at all, even on a distribution basis." So I said "OK, OK." So in
the back of my head I thought "Well fuck you, I should do it myself,"
which is what I did. I made 1500 copies of it for the first pressing and
never looked back shall we say. Before we did it though, Vice Squad did
decide that they would also like to form a label that they would manage
because there was a lot of new punk bands starting up with the second
wave of punk. And they wanted to put a lot of these bands out on this
record label. They wanted to call it Riot City Records because at the
time, in this city of ours, Bristol, there were a lot of race riots in
the poorer areas of Bristol. And of course a lot of the kids in Bristol
were a bit sort of frightened and a bit worried of what was going on. So
we really considered Bristol to be a "riot city." It just seemed the
right thing to call the label Riot City Records, which is what we did.
But obviously because Vice Squad, after they released their first EP, it
sold so well and it got to number 1 in the Independent Charts and they
started doing tours and they really became too busy to worry about doing
the label. So they basically left it up to me to manage the label.With
the first press of "Last Rockers" only being 1,500, could you have
imagined it going on to do so well with 22,000 copies sold and 40 weeks
total on the chart?Well, no because when we did the Heartbeat
Records releases, we were sort of selling 2,000, 3,000 copies of each
single, which to me was great. It was a really good thing to get those
sort of sales. When the Vice Squad single sold, the "Last Rockers" sold
1,500 copies in about three or four days, and I just couldn't believe
that. I thought "Why, what's going on here?" And so I then pressed up
another 1,500 copies 'cause I thought that might, you know, just about
fulfill the sales expectation. But then that, again, sold in about three
or four days, and I thought "Shit, I'm going to have to rethink this
thing." So I then pressed 10,000 copies and just away it went. It was
just crazy, and I never ever expected it would go like that. But at that
time, the second wave of punk was really taking off and there were
bands like Chron Gen and the Exploited and everything just took off and
went crazy.With all the success for Vice Squad, what were your
feelings when they signed on with EMI's Zonophone label and why? Did
their signing with EMI gain greater exposure for Riot City or hurt the
label?Well, I didn't actually agree with them signing to EMI. I
didn't think it would do them any good at all because I thought "Well,
surely if there's enough demand for Vice Squad material, we can meet
that demand through Riot City independently." And I still believe we
could've done. And I actually know that I sold more Vice Squad records
than EMI did, but that's another story. (Laughter) They had a management
team, well, not team, but they had a couple of guys working for them
who were really sort of set on them signing to EMI. And there was not a
lot I could do about it. I was the guy that was publishing their music.
So I did think in a way "Well, so long as I can keep the publishing, if
they want to go and record for EMI, that doesn't really matter because
then at least my Riot City publishing side of it will benefit from their
EMI sales. And then I can still put out new singles by other bands." So
that's the way I thought about it. But, no, I wasn't happy about them
doing it. I think it probably got them out to a different type of
audience because a lot of independent record shops that were selling
punk rock at the time didn't want to stock EMI records. Even though the
Sex Pistols were on EMI, the Sex Pistols were probably like a... I mean
they were a bit of a one off in as much as yes, they signed to a major,
but the second wave of punk really was a bit more independently minded. I
think they would have sold a lot more had they stayed with me, really,
for that reason.Would you say this caused some confusion and
resentment, when they did sign, from the more "hardcore" punks
concerning the label?

Riot City Records label logo

Yes. Yes, it did because Dave and Shane
from Vice Squad were the people that came up with the name Riot City.
They were partially intending on using that for their EMI releases. Now I
was happy with that because, I didn't mind, because I just wanted the
name Riot City to be out there. So I was using it on my releases, they
were using it on theirs. Now, we did get a bit of flack from the
hardcore element, like I told you before. Particularly the Crass people
were not happy with it, and they thought I was the back door to EMI. And
they obviously didn't like EMI because of their corporate leanings,
shall we say. I didn't have any connection whatsoever with EMI. The only
connection I had with EMI was that they were paying me money for the
publishing of Vice Squad music.

Would you say that you staunchly
felt that punk should be independent and exist outside of the mainstream
music industry? Did you identify with the DIY ethos of hardcore punk?I
do identify with the DIY and independent aspect of it, but I don't
think that any genre of music has the right to stay in one place. If
corporates want to do it, so long as they do it well and they do it
right, I'm quite happy for them to do it. Basically it's all about the
music isn't it really at the end of the day? If you can put out good
music then I will back you as a record buyer no matter what label it's
on.I know you had a full time day job back then, but did you ever consider trying to live off the label?Many
times... But I've never been good at taking risks. (Laughter) I'm
probably one of the world's worst businessmen. I do all the hard work
and all the running around and all the craziness of it, but as far as
putting in my hard earned gains like my house and that type of thing
against doing that, then the answer would be no. My family would always
come first.How old were you at the time, and, since you weren't
coming from the same angle as the new wave of punks, did you have any
difficulty in relating at all?I was in my 30s when I started it
off, so I was a lot older than a lot of the guys that were in the bands.
When I was younger, I was into the Small Faces and the Rolling Stones
and the Who. You know, bands like that. I've always been into what I
call the punk rock side of the music. I've always liked the anger, the
angst, and I could always relate to kids who've got that feeling and
that sort of ethos. So I didn't ever feel like an alien with these guys.
I got on really well with them. And I always wanted to try and be a
fifth member or sixth member of the band. I wanted to help them get
through everything they had to do.After the first two Vice Squad EPs, next up was the Insane and Abrasive Wheels singles...Well,
no, it wasn't actually. We did the first two Vice Squad EPs. And we had
the third tour by the "Resurrection" EP, and I did a 12" single which
was putting the first two 7" EPs, one on either of this 12" single,
which was like a tour release. That was the third one.

The Insane

So did Vice Squad choose the Insane and Abrasive Wheels, and when did you take over complete control of all the label decisions?

When
we were on tour, we did a few gigs with the Insane. So the Insane
became sort of friends of Vice Squad, and they were obviously a
preferred release by Vice Squad, yeah. Abrasive Wheels were obviously
known to Vice Squad and they were known to me, but I really wanted to
find the band because I'd heard their own release of "Army Song," and I
thought it was really, really good. And I thought the band would be good
on the label. So that was really my own first release on the label,
yeah.Were you disappointed with the Insane and Abrasive Wheels moving onto No Future and Clay, respectively?No,
no. The way I approach these things is I'm a fan, alright. I buy music
as well as make it, and I still do. I was buying loads of records in
those days by other bands, so I had more of an affiliation with other
labels, and I had a lot of love of what they were doing. So if the bands
wanted to go somewhere else, I wasn't going to stand in their way. I
wasn't that type of operation. I didn't sign the bands up for three
years to make so many singles and albums with me. It was a very relaxed
kind of relationship. The Abrasive Wheels more than the Insane, I mean I
loved the Wheels, and we got on really well and I thought their music
was great. Sure, it'd be nice to keep them, but I didn't really mind
when they went, ya know. Probably of all of the bands that did go, they
were probably the ones that I was sadder to see leave, but I was still
supportive of them.Well, let's face it, their releases on Riot City are much better than their releases on Clay...Well, you said that, and I'm going to agree with you. (Laughter)

Abrasive Wheels

How
were you distributing the records through Rough Trade and the Cartel?
Could people also mailorder a copy from you? Did you have any U.S. or
international distribution?We did it through Caroline. Caroline
Exports from the UK put all the stuff out from Rough Trade. And also
Rough Trade had the Rough Trade America, didn't they, as well. So the
Cartel went out through that direction. The Rough Trade and the Cartel
was a really good little operation because I believe there were six
separate outlets around the country in various cities like Bristol,
York, Birmingham, Edinburgh... And they all had their own shops that
were acting as little parts of this distribution network. It just meant
that I could just go down the road and just take in the records to the
shop and say "Here's another thousand of these." You could really see
what was happening, and you could see the sales going, you could see all
the sales slips coming in and the order forms. It was just quite an
exciting time.When and how did the "Riotous Assembly" compilation idea come about?Again,
that was a bit like, if you go back to what I explained about "Avon
Calling," I was getting hundreds and hundreds of demo tapes from bands
all over the country. You just feel, well I felt, that I wanted to try
and help some of them. Just get a release of one of their songs on a
record. "Riotous Assembly" was really an amalgamation of all those demo
tapes that I thought deserved a chance to be heard. Some were a good
idea, some maybe not so much a good idea. (Laughter) I'd say the album
was alright, it was good. A bit of fun.

How did you advertise for
submissions for it? How many demo tapes would you say you received from
bands interested in being featured?There was a little piece put
in Sounds magazine. I think I spoke to one of the journalists and said
"Look, I've got this idea. I'm going to do this compilation album. Bands
that want to send me demos can." But before that really happened, I was
getting demos anyway, so I already had a small number of bands that I
could choose from.I know this was your first encounter with
"Chaotik Dischord", but was this also how you first got in contact with
bands such as Court Martial, Undead, Expelled, and Chaos UK?Those
were all local bands, and so I live in the same town they live in. You
tend to sort of run into them at gigs and pubs and things like that. And
they just give you a cassette and say "Here listen to this. What do you
think of this?" I see them playing live, and if I'm impressed with them
I'd have said "Come on guys, let's do a single."

Court Martial

Were any of the other bands on the compilation ever offered to further record material for Riot City?I
don't think so, no. A lot of those bands were very, very small bands
that weren't doing a lot. I just felt that one song that they'd done was
really good, and they needed a chance. It wasn't really sort of a
stepping stone to a Riot City EP. It was really a stepping stone for
them to get off their arses. "Here's an opportunity for you to be heard.
Now use it for yourselves and go out there and do something."

Original Chaotik Dischord demo tape

Can
you please recount the Chaotik Dischord demo submission story and your
feelings upon finding out it was members of Vice Squad?(Laughter)
What a jerk! Ya know? Well, let's put it this way: Because of the
nature of how I used to receive demo tapes, people would give me demo
tapes in pubs, people would send them to me in brown envelopes, and you
know, you don't know who these guys are. They could be bloody anybody.
But I was at a pub one evening, and the Vice Squad guys were all there.
And the Vice Squad guys told me that they had had a tape sent to them by
a band from Swindon called Chaotic Dischord. They asked them to give it
to me because they didn't want to speak to a guy from a record label. I
mean something as silly as that. And I bought into it. I thought "Well,
yeah, some people are like that, some people aren't. Some people may be
a bit nervous about meeting such an industry mogul as myself."
(Laughter) So I thought "Fuck it, yeah. I'd give it a listen." So I
played it, and I thought it was really good. After, I had no idea it
that it was those guys, no idea at all. But the other thing was, I don't
know how, but do you know a band called the Amebix?Yes, I do, yeah.Yeah,
well, one of the guys from the Amebix told me. He said "Simon, you've
been hoodwinked here. I'm sure this is fucking Vice Squad." I thought
"Don't be fucking stupid, does that sound like Vice Squad to you?" I
think he'd probably heard, you know. (Laughter) He knew, yeah. But I
mean fuck it, it was the rock 'n roll swindle, wasn't it? (Laughter)

Rob "The Baron" Miller of Amebix (1983)

Were there other Vice Squad side projects besides Chaotic Dischord, Sex Aids, and Dead Katss?There was, but they formed their own label, Resurrection Records. They put out one single.What single was that?I'm trying to think of the bloody name of the band now. You've got me. I'm an old man now! I can't think of things like this.

Downtown Bristol (1980)

Is it Lunatic Fringe by any chance?It is Lunatic Fringe, yes, that's correct. And Lunatic Fringe were also on "Riotous Assembly."Right, right, and then they went on to do that EP later on for COR, I believe.They did, yeah. Yup, Children Of The Revolution.Do
you know offhand, is there more Sex Aids or Dead Katss material because
there's just those three songs for Sex Aids on the EP and then the one
Dead Katss song on the comp... So is there more than that total?So
far as I know there are no more tracks, but, you know, I've been
hoodwinked before. It wouldn't surprise me if they came to my door
tomorrow with an album. "Hey, we recorded an album back in 1981, are you
gonna release it?" I don't know. I don't think so, no. I would be very
surprised. I wouldn't think they would have enough material. (Laughter) Why
was a new label, Not Very Nice Records, formed to release Chaotic
Dischord's "Now! That's What I Call A Fuckin' Racket (Vol. 1)" LP?Precisely
because of that. Again, that was Shane's idea, the Vice Squad's
drummer. He thought it would be a big laugh to actually put it on a
different label name. I mean it was all done through Riot City, but we
just changed the name of the label and just put Not Very Nice Records
because it wasn't really a very nice record. (Laughter) And in fact,
later on in years, we did get into trouble with EMI America for using
that title.Can you please comment on the "trouble" you're
referring to? I'm going to wager that it's in reference to Punkcore's
(U.S.) reissuing of that album and EMI's "Now" series, but i'm just
wondering, if that's true, can elaborate, and was EMI successful in
their pursuance of the name?Yeah, the old "Now Thats What I
Call" thing became a problem when it was reissued in America. EMI saw it
and put an injunction on it and threatened me with all sorts of legal
niceties. I did try and argue the toss with them over all the
"sanctioned" foreign bootlegs of EMI stuff openly on sale in the Middle
East and seemiingly uncontested whereas me selling a few thousand copies
gets jumped on. Needless to say they didn't like me saying that either
so I gracefully gave in. Thats it!

What was the reason for the
formation of Disorder Records instead of just including them on the Riot
City roster, especially when you were already releasing material by
Chaos UK?

Because Disorder didn't want to go on Riot City.
Disorder thought they were too hardcore to be on Riot City and Vice
Squad were too poppy.

Really?

Simple as that. I love Taf
dearly from Disorder. And because he was in a band that I did on
Heartbeat Records as well. Did you know that?

No, what band was that?

He was in the X-Certs. Oh yeah, good shit.

Oh, I didn't know that. Was he older than the rest of those people?

No,
I don't think so. To be honest, I ain't got a fucking clue how old Taf
is now. Taf is ageless. (Laughter) But that's the story. They thought
they should have their own identity because they were a lot sort of more
hardcore curbed than Chaos UK, I guess at that time. And they just felt
that they didn't want to be part of the Riot City thing, and I was
happy with that. Like I said, I'm a fan too, and I can see where they're
coming from. So we decided to form a label for their band, yeah.

Ultra Violent

While
records by Vice Squad, Abrasive Wheels, and the Ejected were selling
pretty large numbers, what about releases like the Ultra Violent,
Emergency, No Choice, and Underdogs? How many were pressed of records
like those?

They did about 5,000. 3,000-5,000. The Ultra Violent
was always one of my favorite releases on my Riot City. I thought that
was a great release. And I like the Emergency one as well. Emergency
were essentially part of Blitz. Did you know that?

No, I did not know that.

Yeah, yeah.

Do you know the connection there offhand by any chance?

They
were all friends together basically. We did a gig with Blitz, and one
of the guys said "We've got this song, but it's not like what we did.
It's a slightly different thing." And I thought "Alright, let's hear
it." They sent it to me and it was really good. And, yeah, that's what
that's all about.

When you did the Ultra Violent, was that from a demo?

No.

So had you heard them live or...?

They
sent me a demo cassette of stuff, and those two songs were the ones I
liked. But I think they recorded for someone else. I'm pretty sure they
did something for someone else.

I was reading Ian Glasper's
Burning Britain, and in regards to the Ultra Violent, it says that there
were four songs recorded for the 7", three of which made it to the
record. The fourth song was called "Sign Of The Times." Can you tell me
why this song would have been left off?

Two reasons, it made the EP too long for a good loud cut, and we wanted a single track A side.

How
did you go about finding out about new bands or asking a band to do a
record? Did you worry about quality control and your label's reputation?

I
always put out releases that I like. Some people might be surprised by
that, but everything I release I like as a piece of music, otherwise I
couldn't get myself behind it and want to work with it unless I was
enjoying what I was hearing. So the things that I released on Riot City
were things that I liked. Simple as that.

And what about finding out about new bands or asking a band to do a record?

Well,
like I said before, I was getting heaps of demo tapes. I used to sift
through them, and I used to choose. I used to see bands live and if
something made me think "Well, this band's got something worth
capturing," then I would say "Look, hey, that song you did three songs
in was really good. Do you want to do that as a single?" It was honestly
as loose as that. There was no master plan. It was just pick and choose
what you find as you go along.

Were you intentionally diverse
with the bands on your label? Because bands like the Varukers, Chaos UK,
and Ultra Violent sound nothing like say No Choice for instance.

No,
well, again you see, I've always had a very diverse taste in music, but
I don't think you'd find much difference of the beliefs of the guy's of
the bands in Chaos UK and No Choice. They were coming from the same
angle, but they just delivered it in a different way.

Did you
ever consider crossing over with a band from the anarcho scene like
Exit-Stance or Flux Of Pink Indians or a post punk/goth band? No Future
experimented a bit with Screaming Dead for example.

Sure, at one
time, I was going to do something with SST. Yeah, I was in talks with
the Black Flag people, and I was going to put out some American
hardcore. Well, in fact, I did an album called "Hell Comes To Your
House". That's where that came from. I was thinking of spreading my
wings and doing something different. But I decided against it because I
didn't think I would have enough time to do both. Because I've always
done everything on my own. I've never had a partner, never had anyone to
help me do it. Everything I've ever done on Riot City has been done
purely by me alone. I did it that way, not because I don't trust people,
but because I just wanted to make the attempt to make my own mistakes
and make my own successes. I just enjoyed doing it that way.

Were
there any bands that turned down offers from you or that broke up prior
to recording? How about any bands that you turned down and regret or
others you wish you'd asked?

Onslaught.

Really?

Yup, I turned down Onslaught.

Onslaught early years photo

For the "Power From Hell" LP or for something...

Everything.
They came to me in a pub with a demo, and they said "Hey, can you
listen to this?" I said "Alright." So I took it home and listened to it.
I looked at the work I had to do with other releases, and I loved what I
heard, but I just couldn't have the time to do it. So I turned them
down.

So was that toward the end of Riot City then?

It was, yeah. Yes, it was.

The "Power From Hell" LP is amazing obviously.

I
know, I know. It was a combination of sales had probably started to
drop off from Riot City. And probably my heart wasn't in it enough to
want to do that.

There was a band called Genocide Association
that involved the guy who went on to form Earache Records, and there's a
letter online of theirs from the time stating they had a record offer
from Riot City. I was wondering if this is true or bullshit.

The
only link with Genocide Association is just that really. The band sent
in a demo and I was impressed by it, etc. Not sure why we never did the
release.

Genocide Association interview mentioning a Riot City offer

When you asked a band to do a single and they provided
you with three songs, would the band go into the studio, record a bunch
of songs, and then you or the band would choose what you felt to be the
best three or how did that work?

No, they would go into the
studio and record the three songs that we agreed prior to them going
into the studio. Otherwise, they'd be in the bloody studio all week, and
that'd cost a fortune. For instance, a good example of that is Mayhem, a
band from Liverpool. We did a few gigs with them, and I really liked
what they did. I said "Look, choose four songs that you want to do for
your first EP." And they chose the four songs that they liked. "Good,
love 'em. Go into the studio and record those four songs." That's what
they did. Twice they did that.

How much unreleased material is
there from the Riot City era? I know that the Underdogs for instance
have two unreleased sessions, Chaos UK had that song "Police
Protection", and there was the Expelled 12" that had been unreleased...

That's
probably it actually. There are some live things which are floating
around, but that really is probably it. Obviously bands like Mayhem may
have recorded more themselves. But as far as my sessions go, nope, I
think everything that's probably out there now is it.

I've always wondered about the likelihood that newly unearthed Riot City era stuff could be released.

Well,
I've got loads of demos from bands that I don't know what to do with.
And I often wonder whether it's worth doing a CD of all these demos, but
I really don't know. It's not something I've made a conscious decision
to do. But there really isn't any material that I know of that we
haven't exhausted.

Put that Onslaught demo out on vinyl.

Well, yeah, yeah, definitely that's a good idea. (Laughter) I could even sell the cassette on eBay, I guess. (Laughter)

When
"signing" a band, did you use contracts or just verbal agreements? Did
the bands retain the rights to their songs and publishing?

I used
a contract for Vice Squad because that was a bigger deal, and they also
had a management team as well that required that. For all my
publishing, I used not contracts, but what we call assignment forms. And
you just assign that song to the Heartbeat Publishing Company and
that's it. But the bands all own the rights to what they did, yeah.

So when labels like Anagram, Captain Oi, or Step 1 Music reissues them, do the bands receive royalties from that stuff?

Yes,
they do. Oh yes. Basically how it works is the recording they do for
me, I own that recording. And so that version of that song is mine or
Captain Oi's or whoever. The band can go and record it again, and I have
no say in it. That's how the system works.

Does Cherry Red currently own all of those then?

Captain Oi bought up the rights to Riot City Records.

When did they purchase that?

Probably five years ago maybe?

What was your reaction to Gary Bushell referring to Riot City as the "dustbin of punk"? Did that have any impact on sales?

(Laughter)
People can say whatever the hell they like. He's just one guy, a
journalist. A lot of people read his words, but they can read between
the lines. He was always into the more sort of Blitz-ier side of punk,
which is fine, not a problem. And if he didn't like me or the stuff I
was putting out, then no problem. But he did like some. He liked
Emergency and the Ejected and that sort of stuff.

Besides your
issuing of the "Hell Comes To Your House" LP and the Channel 3 EP and
DKs stuff, there were very few American releases on British labels. What
do you think was the reason for this, and how did you come to release
"Hell Comes To Your House?"

When I was talking about doing this
deal, that was offered to me as a precursor to doing something more. And
I listened to the album and I thought some of the tracks were really
good. I thought maybe this is a stepping stone to see what the market
was like and to see if it was an easy thing to work in Europe. It was
quite difficult to be honest. I think that really sort of told me that
if I wanted to go down that road as well, it would be a lot more work. I
would have to get someone else to come in and give me a hand, maybe
move to London. And I really wasn't up for that, so that's really what
put the kibosh on that.

Did you have a relationship at all with
Chris Berry or Richard Jones of No Future Records, Mike Stone from Clay,
or anyone from Pax, Rot, Secret, or other labels?

Yeah, I knew
Mike Stone you know obviously because the Wheels went to Clay. We spent a
lot of time, we hung out together. He wanted to do it as amicably as he
could, and I was quite happy with that. So we got to know each other. I
knew Chris Berry and Richard Jones because they were both from Malvern,
which is just north of Bristol geographically. So we were quite close,
and I went to some of the gigs that they used to put on. It was all good
stuff. I think there was some sort of pleasant rivalry between No
Future and Riot City because we were dominating the top of the
independent charts for about two years. They probably pipped it for the
most releases over us. They had Blitz who always sold well anyway, so
you know.

Looking back, what was your favorite release and who was your favorite band to work with?

Favorite
band, I loved working with the Ejected. They were great guys. We had a
lot of fun with them. But I also loved working people like Chaos UK
'cause they were just fucking crazy, and it was always fun being around
them. Like I said to you before, I was a fan of the music, I loved doing
the stuff, and I look back at it all with great affection. I said
before that one of my favorite releases was Ultra Violent. I just
thought that was a really strong single. I like the No Choice one.
Obviously I like Vice Squad because Vice Squad were like my babies. I
sort of grew up with them, they grew up with me, and it was good to see
them do the sort of stuff they came out with. So yeah, I just enjoyed
doing it all. Some of the gigs we did, I'd go with a lot of the bands,
we did merchandise, and some of the gigs were just fantastically crazy
times. It was just a really good thing to be part of, and I think I had a
great life doing it.

Chaos UK photo in Punk Lives issue No. 5 (1982)

The Ejected - "A Touch Of Class" LP (1982)

What made you decide to call it quits with the label?

It
was just a combination of falling sales and, with falling sales, there
wasn't so much good music being offered. I just thought maybe it's time
to quit while you're nearly ahead. (Laughter)

All in all you sold 154,413 7" singles, 28,203 12" EPs, and 50,220 LPs. Those numbers are quite staggering, wouldn't you say?

Well,
they're not staggering if you did some of the things on No Future, it
would be bigger figures. It was a staggering amount for me to sell as
one guy doing a record label. I was pretty impressed with it looking
back on it. It's even more impressive when you compare it with what
people sell these days. I mean obviously the way you buy music these
days is a lot different, but to be able to sell one type of media in
that quantity, it was terrific, really exciting stuff.

Once Riot City was done, did you continue to follow the hardcore scene in Bristol with labels like COR and Manic Ears?

Yeah,
I was aware of them. I kind of thought that because they were doing
their own thing and I wasn't really sort of part of it enough to be
involved in it. So they just go on with it, and I guess I thought "Well,
I've done my bit. Now it's time for them to take over the helm, and
they can take it to whatever level they can. Good luck to them all."

Are you still in contact with anyone from back then today?

A
lot of people, yeah. Yeah, because people see things we released and
they get in touch. "Hey, you've released such and such. Brilliant. Here
it comes again." They're all really pleased that it's still out there.
Because look, I mean let's face it, no one really thought 30 years later
people would still be wanting to buy stuff that we did back then.
That's a crazy thing. You do these things and you make the records, and
you make them for the time. OK? It's a very sort of instantaneous thing.
You do the record and in sort of six or seven weeks it's gone. You go
onto the next one. Who would ever think "I'm doing this record and in 30
years time, people are going to be wanting to hear it again." You don't
think like that, so it's an amazing thing to happen. I never dreamt
that someone from America would want to phone me up 30 years after doing
my first record wanting to talk about what I did. I'm flattered, which
is what I said to you. I'm flattered and honored to talk to you about
it.

[Post interview material]

Is there any chance you can just talk for a second about Mayhem or your experiences working with them?

They
were a nice bunch of blokes. We did a couple of gigs with them. They
seemed good, and the music was good. I always hoped they would do bigger
things, really, because they were quite a strong band. I really did see
them going places. I think they fell apart shortly after the second EP
was released.

[Simon talking again:]

Going back to what
you said about Chaos UK [pre-interview], if I had to have a favorite
image of what I did back in those days, it's the picture I took of Chaos
UK staying outside the hair salon.

Oh, you took that.

I
took that. Still today, that is my favorite image of that time. I think
it just captures everything, and they just look great. Going back to the
"Riotous Assembly" thing as well, I took all those photographs for that
as well. We arranged one Saturday morning for all the Bristol punks to
come down to the center of Bristol. I was going to do this big
photoshoot outside Virgin Records. We arranged this through the pubs and
clubs, you know. "Be there, be there." And I went down there, and there
were about 500-1000 punks down there. And we had the police and
everything. It was a really fun day. (Laughter) But it's things like
that that stick in your mind and they were just really, really good
little periods of the time.

"Riotous Assembly" photo shoot, Bristol (1980)

When you look at Chaotic Dischord
pictures and they're wearing "I Hate Chaos UK" shirts and had lyrics
against them in their songs, what was the reason for all that?

There
was always a bit of animosity between Chaos UK and Vice Squad because,
you see, what you've got to realize is Vice Squad weren't hardcore at
all. They didn't have any hardcore ethics. They liked punk rock, but
they were more Buzzcocks than they were Disorder, shall we say. There
was always like a little bit of rivalry going on, so they just used to
say they used to hate each other, which was fun for me. I quite enjoyed
all that.

Controversy sells, right.

Yeah, and of course on
the Chaotic Dischord 12", when Captain Sensible was singing he of
course got into that and started singing "I fucking hate Chaos UK. Who
the fuck are Chaos UK anyway?" (Laughter)

Beki Bondage of Vice Squad

Does the "Fuck Off You Cunt, What A Load Of Bollocks" by Chaotic Dischord have Beki singing do you know?

What
happened was Chaotic Dischord, they were essentially the Vice Squad
road crew. And the Vice Squad road crew split. (Laughter) Essentially
what happened was Igor moved up to London. Bambi, who was guy who was
the main instigator, stayed in Bristol. And so Igor decided to record an
album up there with different people and call it Chaotic Dischord.

I understand. So it's only sort of Chaotic Dischord.

It's only sort of Chaotic Dischord, yeah. It's not the real Chaotic Dischord.

Is there other Chaotic Dischord material that's unreleased?

There
always might be because they did a lot of stuff that even I probably
don't know about. I don't know. There always could be, who knows. Leave
it open.

Monday, April 20, 2015

Over the the
next few weeks, I will be adding interviews and possibly some articles
from the aborted anarcho punk/goth issue of Negative Insight. Originally
slated to be Issue #2 and feature bands such as Vex, Part 1, The Mob,
Southern Death Cult, and many more, we ultimately decided to abandon the
issue. The first part is a Vex interview that is included below.---------------------------------------------------------------------------For
some bands, a lack of output relegates them to the land of forgotten
obscurity where their legacy and quality are represented by permanent
residence in the dollar bin. For others, a lack of output elevates them
to a level of obscurity obsessively sought out by a dedicated few
intrigued by greatness that came and went with such little
documentation. Vex can safely be placed in the latter category, far and
above dollar bin fodder. In fact, Vex may be the perfect example of the
adage "less is more." Having left behind only one official vinyl release
of their own (the four song "Sanctuary" 12" on the Mortarhate Records
offshoot Fight Back Records, 1984), along with a prior demo, a few comp
tracks, and some live tapes, they seemingly vanished from existence,
gaining themselves quite an allure and mystique. This became even more
true due to their one and only 12" being a flawless staple, if not the
pinnacle, of the genre. Vex's lack of further output leaves their legacy
untarnished by lesser subsequent release, but it also leaves one
salivating over how great of an LP they could have written.

Vex
took the best elements of several precursors and combined them to create
their own sound. This included the anthemic protest charge of anarcho
punk, the jagged guitar work of Killing Joke, the harmonic and
impassioned vocals of Southern Death Cult, and hypnotic tribal drum
rhythms of Siouxie And The Banshees. Vex released a three song demo in
1983, of which the track "It's No Crime" would be re-recorded for
inclusion on their "Sanctuary" 12" a year later. Another song from the
demo, "Pressure," would be included on the "Not Waving But Drowning"
compilation LP (Little Sister Enterprises, 1983). And the version of
"It's No Crime" from the "Sanctuary" 12" also appears on the "Who What?
Why? When? Where?" LP (Mortarhate Records, 1984). But the most
interesting of their comp tracks is their final submission, "Rushing To
Hide," from the "We Don't Want Your Fucking Law!" LP (Fight Back
Records, 1985), as this song is clearly taken from a different studio
session than those that produced their other tracks. Were more songs
recorded at the time of "Rushing To Hide"? If so, how many and what
happened to them? I would love to know. "Rushing To Hide" shows the band
with a bit more tense sound. The vocals are slightly less melodic and
instead border on shouted. Perhaps this is closer to how a follow up
release would have sounded. I can only hope that some day additional
songs from that session will be released.

In addition to the demo
and studio recordings, there are at least three known live bootlegs
floating around. The first is raw in quality and was recorded live in
Norwich, England on July 22, 1983. The second was recorded on March 3,
1984 at the Electric Ballroom in Camden, England. It contains six songs
from the demo and 12" and is of pretty good quality. The third is from
an unknown date and venue and features nine songs of less than great
quality as well. All three sets feature songs that were not on any
official Vex releases such as "Tonight," "Passion Wall," "Shadow Of
Beauty," and a cover of T. Rex's "20th Century Boy."

The lack of
information regarding the band is rarely seen in today's age of instant
communication and limitless resources to track people down. The days of
record collectors calling everyone across the country with the same name
of the band members they are trying to hunt down are over. Internet
search engines and social networking sites have made it so you can find
virtually anyone as quickly as you can type. Still, the former members
of Vex remained elusive. Even folks who personally knew the band had no
idea what happened to them. Rumors regarding the ex-members whereabouts
made their story that much more intriguing. So it was with great
surprise after much searching that I was able to come across a former
member of this enigmatic group. Scrote, Vex's vocalist who now goes by
the name Yanu, was kind enough to reply to my emails about the band's
history. Unfortunately, his memory was not the best on the details sadly
due to a struggle with drug abuse for many years. But Yanu is now clean
and recounted as much as he could in this bio in his own words.

All words by Yanu, taken from several email conversations over the first half of 2011 and broken up into two separate parts.

Part 1:

You're
right, I haven't been directly involved in the punk scene for a long
time now. I think if you were bought up in that era then it never really
leaves you. I'm still an anarchist at heart just not interested in the
punk scene or music anymore.

It's pretty surprising to me that
people are still interested in Vex considering the limited amount of
music that we managed to record, but I'm glad people are still enjoying
it.

The best track we recorded was "Rushing To Hid," which was
put out on Mortarhate's "We Don't Want Your Fucking War" LP, but I
haven't been able to find it anywhere as I don't have a recording of it
myself.

I've checked out Vex online once or twice and am pretty
amazed that there are people still discussing our 12" EP, "Sanctuary,"
and putting up YouTube videos, etc.

When punk first happened in
the late '70s, it was so liberating. There was a real vibe on the
street, a real feeling that we could smash the status quo and create
something better. The first time I heard Johnny Rotten from the Pistols
tell some radio reporter to "Fuck off," I was in the kitchen at my home
with my mother. She was totally shocked and turned the radio off. It was
amazing. It somehow gave me permission to say fuck off as well. I was
only 15 or something at the time and all my resentments from parental
pressure to school, etc. was just bubbling up inside me. I soon as I
heard him say them words it lit a fuze in me; it allowed me to say it
and mean it too. I wanted freedom, real freedom, fuck all their laws,
rules, inhibitions, etc. I think it was that week I dyed my hair with
blue food colouring, tore up my trousers and t-shirts and there was no
going back...

After a while of being on the scene, i realized
the real hardcore Anarchists were the bands like Crass, Conflict etc,
although by the time i was old enough to play music was the early 80's
with bands like Southern Death Cult and Bauhaus were on the rise.

I
agreed with the sentiment of the anarchist bands but enjoyed the music
more of the early goth bands and i guess that's how Vex started, with
our feet in both those worlds..

It was funny when we first did
shows, we weren't like any other bands on the venue. The first times we
played in support of Conflict the crowds just either watched or hurled
abuse at us, in there minds we weren't hardcore enough musically but
after a while they caught on to our vibe. One of our best shows was at
the 100 Club in London when we blew Broken Bones { the guitarist from
Discharges band } away, getting so many encores that by the time the
headline act came on there was hardly anyone left in the audience.

You
have to understand that most of that period of my life I was on a
cocktail of solvents, speed, alcohol, marijuana and a varied assortment
of pills, haha. Most of the connections to our recordings and most of
the gigs I can't remember, as I was out of my head most of the time, as
was most of the audience.

What I do remember was why we finally
split up just as it was about to take off for us. We had the possibility
of a signing to a major label that meant we would have to subdue some
of our styling and lyrics, etc. Me and the drummer, Mark Russell, stuck
to our anarchistic guns and told the label where to go and the guitarist
and the bass player wanted us to compromise in order to get more
airplay. (They, both being more form the goth background than the
hardcore anarchist roots than me and the drummer held to.) From what I
can remember, the arguing inside the band on this fundamental point of
differences in direction split the band up eventually...

By this time, I was using heroin and really can't remember too much about it as the drug was starting to consume my life.

After
Vex, I basically lost myself completely to my addiction to heroin, all
my values of freedom and anarchistic revolution went out the window as I
became more and more addicted, eventually ODing multiple times, ending
up in and out of insane asylums and drug rehabs...

As for me
now, miraculously I've been clean from drink and drugs for over 17 years
now, half of my friends from the punk days are either dead, in prison
or suffering from addiction problems themselves. The only people I know
who are still carrying the banner strong are Conflict, although I don't
have any contact with the band members.

Punk and anarchism for
me was fine as an initial ideology of rebellion, but beyond smashing
everything up (and believe me, if you knew any of us back then, we
smashed a lot of shit up), as a way of living and generating an
alternative future, it failed in my opinion.

It's worn now more as a fashion statement than as a way of life, and in my opinion, has no real power...

As
for me, I've been an outlaw my whole life... I've never voted, I've
never paid a dime in tax, I even now use a pseudonym so no government
can track my where abouts. I'm FREE: I do what I want, where I want,
with who ever I want, whenever I want and have worked out a way to live
pretty self sustaining and self supporting.

I don't listen to punk nor do i dress like one anymore, but I live more the life of a true anarchist than most people I know...

Viva La Revolution

Part 2:

Like
I said before, I was pretty high most of the time, but I think it was
A&M that wanted to sign us up for a record deal. We were supposed to
do a punk cover of "Twentieth Century Boy" by T Rex, and we wanted the
cover art to be a picture of a punk kicking in a TV screen with Margaret
Thatcher's face on it, but they wouldn't let us use that. So like I
said before, we had an internal fight within the band. Me and Mark the
drummer not wanting to comprimise, and it ended up splitting the band
up.

To do with Conflict, we were all from pretty much the same
area South East London. I can't remember exactly how we managed to end
up on the road with them but we did. It was a lot of fun, we all got
along pretty cool. "Sanctuary" was made and, yes, I think that was made
before any other compilations we were on and stuff. We owed a lot to
Conflict; they got our name on the map in whatever small way we were
recognized at the time. As for Colin and Conflict, I ain't got a bad
word to say about 'em, had some great times with Big John and Paco. Of
course we're all hypocrites in our own way, but Conflict are still going
strong and inspiring people to personal liberty.

I guess
Conflict were the closest band we were into and played with, other bands
like Dirt, Flux, etc. were around, but we kept ourselves to ourselves.
Like I said before, being more inspired musically by Southern Death
Cult, UK Decay, Joy Division, etc.

As for the "Rushing To Hide"
recordings, yes, there were different takes of that that were recorded.
As for are there any other recordings of other songs, god knows. We
didn't do that much recording really, mostly just lotsa gigs... I think
Mortarhate probably own the rights to our music, I've got no fucking
idea, ha.

After the band split, we all went our different ways,
and I only keep in contact with Mark the drummer occasionally. As for
Duncan and Dave, the bass player and guitarist, who knows where they are
at now and what there doing...

As for the days of Vex and the
scene back then, it was fucking amazing: full of vitality, power and the
feeling of constant revolution. When you could go to the Lyceum in
London and see eight of the top punk bands for £4, it was great. You
have to remember the punks were at war, literally, with the skinheads
and fascist movement at the time. I had a huge spiked chain that I would
wrap around the mike stand and when the skinheads would bust in, as
they inevitably did to try and disrupt the gig, I would pull that chain
off the stand and be cracking skulls at the edge of the stage to keep
them at bay...

I go to gigs now occasionally, where they stat at
9 PM sharp and end at 11 PM with loud music and a bunch of posers and
generally come away disappointed. Wishing that there was the vibe we had
back in the day, the feeling of anarchy and destruction and total
fucking mayhem most of the time, haha...

Sunday, April 19, 2015

This article was originally included in a Social Napalm email update that was published in February of 2012.For the write up at the end this month, my man Ian the librarian has
written an excellent and very detailed piece on Greek crust. The Greek
scene (like the Polish scene) has produced an extensive amount of great
crust punk that often goes unheralded for a variety of reasons. Ian goes
into these reasons in his own piece, but just to emphasize it, I think
strongest reason is the language barrier and the fact that the Greek
language features it's own unique alphabet separate from the Latin
derived languages used by the rest of Europe, making it difficult for
non Greek speaking fans to familiarize themselves with specific band
names and releases. Bands whose names were translated to English such as
Hibernation, Chaotic End, and Forgotten Prophecy became far better
recognized for the English version of their name than their proper Greek
language name. The defining characteristic of Greek crust is how much
it is all influenced by Amebix and Axegrinder with their own distinct
traits added on, and this continues to this day. Greece has always had a
vibrant tradition of class consciousness and political protest dating
back to well documented ancient times, and this is also clear in the
lyrics and themes of the songs. The article covers the big name bands as
well as many lesser known groups as well, and i'm really happy to have
it included here. So mega thanks to Ian for contributing it. If anyone
would like to contact him directly, go for it at iduncans@gmail.com.Here it is:Erik invited me to write a brief article about
Greek crust, which is still by and large criminally underrated outside
of Greece. I don't purport to know much about the inner-workings of the
bands or scene; I'm writing about these records purely from a fan's
perspective. Moreover, I’m going to be discussing the crustier side of
the music and will be skipping some of Greece’s great punk bands, such
as Genia Tou Chaous (Chaos Generation) and Stress. Greek punk feels
virtually unknown outside of Greece, perhaps partially because of the
more insular nature of the scene, or possibly because the Greek alphabet
makes the band names difficult to read and search for by anyone who
isn’t familiar with the language. Nevertheless, while European countries
like Sweden and Finland were putting themselves on the map doing their
own take on Discharge and Disorder, Greece seemed to be years late to
hardcore punk and instead had a flourishing post-punk scene influenced
by usual suspects like Joy Division. Hardcore slowly emerged in the
mid-late '80s with bands like Stress, Adieksodo (Dead End), Antidrasi
(Reaction), and Genia Tou Chaous – check out the "Διατάραξη Κοινής
Ησυχίας," or "Disturbance of the Common Peace" compilation from 1984 on
Enigma Records for a good overview of early Greek punk. It's a stellar
comp, with each band contributing two unique songs that prove to be some
of their best material.It wasn't long before Greek punks
emerging from the squat scene clearly began absorbing Amebix and
Axegrinder records, and the scene emerged with its own uniquely Greek
take on heavy, dark crust that took over and is still popular there
today. Like current Greek politics and protests, the music is volatile
with dark, apocalyptic overtones. I’m going to do my best to summarize
the more accessible bands (i.e. those that had vinyl releases).Industrial Suicide (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zp5f5kAhlOg)Possibly
the first band in Greece to play in the heavier, crustier style that
would define later bands. They released two demo tapes (in 1987 and
1989) before members went on to form Naytia (Nausea). Industrial Suicide
played abrasive, metallic crust punk with guttural vocals very much
akin to Swedish bands like Bombanfall or Doom and Bolt Thrower's early
material. Both tapes are available online in their entirety if you look
around, but I have yet to find copies with good sound quality. It’s a
shame – these demos are absolutely crying out for a nice reissue!

Antidrasi (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wab-yp6zjSE) Antidrasi
are more of a hardcore punk band who remind me of South American /
Mexican bands like Olho Seco and Massacre 68. They released a hyper-rare
and abrasive 7” that should appeal to any and all noise-punks in 1989,
and then an LP with a similar sound in 1990. The LP is one of the
cornerstones of Greek HC – it’s raw, abrasive, and highly political. The
cover features a zombie cop in front of the Greek flag, and the first
song (translating to "Pig Meat") directly references the riots-sparking
murder of a Greek teenager by cops. Antidrasi's second LP, "Enantia"
("Against") is a bit more polished, but still very strong HC and highly
recommend. They are still together nowadays and still as
politically-active as ever, but their music is more metallic hardcore
and lacks the rawer edge that makes their first handful of records so great.

Naytia (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJGWkjtM3s0)One
of the classics of Greek punk, Naytia formed in 1987 or 1988 playing
crust-influenced hardcore. I could be wrong, but I believe that
personnel from Industrial Suicide were involved. Their first demo ("The
Sweet Secrets of Life") was released in 1989, followed by the fantastic
“European Alienaissance” LP in 1991 and a split LP with German band
Graue Zellen on Skuld in 1994. The LP has a detailed foldout poster with
English translations of the lyrics and plenty of artwork.
Unfortunately, it is very difficult to find and is in dire need of a
repress.Negative Stance (Arnitika Stahsi) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8Q_tuMB5mA)Some
of Negative Stance's material is a bit more on the traditional melodic
Greek HC punk tip than crust, but I'm including them because they gigged
around with the bigger crust bands in the early 1990s and definitely
had a few metal flourishes. They released a split LP with British band
Kismet HC in 1990, and then a full-length of their own ("Angels of
Deceit") on Greece’s famous Wipe Out! Records; Genet Records did the
international version, making it pretty easy to locate. There was also a
7” released on none other than Profane Existence that same year,
featuring two songs that were on the LP. Like much of Greek punk, their
lyrics were introspective and existential but still highly political.Forgotten Prophecy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hygXTxaoRvw)Similar
in sound to Naytia (and I believe featuring at least one ex-member),
Forgotten Prophecy was a short-lived band very much in the traditional
dark Greek crust vein. Their sole recorded legacy is a split LP with the
pre-Fleas and Lice band Mushroom Attack, released by Loony Tunes out of
the UK in 1990.

Panikos (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7OW1f4d6dQ)Formed
in the late '80s and still going strong, Panikos are for me of the
genre-defining Greek crust bands. Their sound veers from slower, heavier
Amebix-inspired slowness to faster, more rocking crust-metal songs.
Their split LP with Germans WWK and 7" from the 1990s are excellent and
reasonably easy to find. The strongest recording may be "Awakening From
Lethargy," released last year on a bevy of labels and still readily
available in distros. The production is thick and crunchy with great
rocking crust riffs and some minimal spacey synth work that doesn’t
overwhelm the music.

Hibernation (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WHBjID-z_E)I
always lump Hibernation in with Panikos in the pantheon of '90s Greek
crust even though their riffs are a bit less rock-influenced. They’re
faster on their 7”s released in 1997 and 2000; 2003's Skuld LP "Into the
Silence of Eternal Sorrow: slows down the pace and adds some synth. The
LP also boasts a less muddy production than the still solid 7"s.
Guitarist Alexander was also in Forgotten Prophecy. These records are
all pretty easy to locate, and well worth the effort.Chaotic End (Xaotiko Telos) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTqNOaPbPA0)

An
absolute must for Amebix / Axegrinder fans, Xaotiko Telos had members
of Ashen Breath and Hibernation. They played heavy, dirgey crust with
strong riffing and a good use of synth, never overwhelming the music.
The singer sounds phenomenally angry and desperate, like he’s shouting
on a moonless night near some ancient Greek ruins. Note that the cover
of their sole 1993 LP on Wipe Out! Records features the ‘crust bird,'
popularized later by Tragedy. When it comes to their imagery, I can’t
help but also be a bit reminded of the more ecologically-minded Scottish
bands Sedition and Scatha.Ashen Breath (Anasa Stahti) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWZZDIBlvPY)Along
with the Chaotic End LP, this is one of the very best Greek crust
records. The riffs are catchy and the band plays faster ala Panikos or
Forgotten Prophecy. They did one LP on the small Greek label "Do It
Yourself" Records in 1994, and were also featured on a comp. a few years
later on the same label. The LP is probably the rarest Greek crust
record, but stock copies of the compilation did turn up a few years ago
and can probably still be scored for an only semi-crazy price.Psychosis (Ψύχωση) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQpaGN-cN30)Really
just a footnote because I haven't heard much about or by them, but
Psychosis' two tracks on the aforementioned Do It Yourself Records
compilation are top-tier examples of heavy '90s Greek crust punk. I
would love to hear the entire demo!

Newer Bands:There are
also a handful of newer Greek crust bands that are well worth a look for
fans of the style. Stateless in the Universe
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0E5g8EJ3VA ) had a member of Naytia and
did a split LP with a German band called Knallkopf in 2001, and then
seemingly disappeared from the face of the Earth. It's a little more
melodic than Naytia, mainly because of the less guttural vocals.
Epithanatios Roghos (Death Rattle -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr5aRw4v2XY) plays crust with a melodic
edge not too far from bands like His Hero Is Gone, but with that
distinct Greek style. They did a split LP with Poreia Sto Perithorio
(Journey to the Margin - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5zYZn06Nh4)
which is still moderately easy to find, and was even sitting around in
distros in the U.S. for a couple of years. Dyspnea
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN67sFKMtqI) plays stench Greek crust
with guttural vocals – check out their split 7” with Czech crusties
Nakot. Anti-Mob (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TetY9n7jKmg) is a
melodic crust band with some slight Tragedy / Japanese similarities, but
the Greek style propels what might be forgettable into something worth
tracking down. They are best known for a split 7” with the German band
Burial, but they also did their own 7” five years ago that received
limited distribution. Most recently, there's Hellstorm
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0M2HBgjASbg), who, as the name implies,
take a few cues from Axegrinder but maintain their own Greek sound. They
did a single-sided, screened 12” (a vinyl release of their demo) and a
split LP with Last Legion Alive. To my knowledge, these records have
only really been distributed in Europe, but are still available.